MODEL RAILROADERS. national convetion rockford layout tours. July 12, Convention tours

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1 MODEL RAILROADERS National Model Railroad Association, Midwest Region, Rock River Valley Division F L I M Z I E MIDWEST REGION Volume 42 Number 4 Fall 2010 national convetion rockford layout tours July 12, Convention tours Dick Caudle Reporting The layout tours to Rockford went very well, two bus loads and sixteen layouts, the only bad thing was only one bus per layout. NMRA Visitors at Joe Whinnery s I would like to thank again the hosts, and helpers for all the time, and effort they put into their layouts for the convention. It s amazing the effect being open for a convention tour has on a layout owner Our hosts were, The Argyle Club, Jim Baker, Don Bergman, Dennis Blunt, John and Dale Burge, Mike Covey, Randy Garnhart, Bob Jarrett, Bill Kirchmeyer, Tom Maladecki, John Swanson(north) Bill Teeters, Gene Wheeler, Charlie Wickhorse, Joe Whinnery, Rich Woock and yours truly. Our thanks to Joe for his excellent photos for the magazine convention photos and web site. Our thanks also to Midway Village for the use of the Lakeside room at lunch time for the guests and hosts. Lunch and Leisure at the lake side room at Midway Village. I received a comment about Midway Village from one of the tour guests, the good thing was the use of the room for lunch, the bad thing was not having enough time to see the museum!

2 Superintendent John Mann 7303 Farmhome Ln Cherry Valley, IL Assistant Super. Tom McCabe 844 Ramona Terrace Machesney Park, IL RRVD Officers LARRY & PHYL'S HOBBIES WEEKEND DEALS! SPECIALIZING IN MODEL RAILROADING ROCKETS, MODELS & BUILDING MATERIALS STORE HOURS Mon. - Thurs. & Sat. 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Friday 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM Closed Sunday PHONE: N PARKER DR JANESVILLE, WI FAX: Chief Clerk Les Zimmerman 604 Oak Knolls Ave. Rockford, IL zimmfair@aol.com Paymaster Rich Woock 2490 Austin Pl. Beloit, WI tokencr@charter.net FLIMZIE Staff Editor / Mail Roster Ron Anderson 978 McKnight Cir. #2 Rockford, IL crabbo6@att.net Join the Argyle Club By Tom Maladecki The Northern Illinois Historical Railway Association, Inc. is located at the Paulson Agricultural Museum, 6910 Belvidere Road in Argyle, IL. The members of the Argyle club are building a layout representing CNW s KD Line. The track is laid and a lot of the scenery is in place for Argyle, Caledonia, Poplar Grove, Capron, and Chemung. Work is progressing on the two end points of the layout, Rockford and Harvard. Contact the Editor with your advertising inquiries! Ron Anderson r crabbo6@att.net If you don t have a model railroad right now, think about joining the club. You can gettogether with other modelers, hone your skills, or join an operating session. Work sessions are scheduled for every Saturday morning. However, members can be found working on the railroad throughout the week. MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION National Model Railroad Association, Inc Cromwell Road Chattanooga, TN Enclosed Amount of Annual Dues* q Regular Membership $58.00 q Family Member (Spouse or Minor Child of Member) $8.00 q Student Member (Under 25 Years) $24.00 q No Scale Rails & NMRA Bulletin Membership $39.00 q Sustaining Member (Club/Business) $97.00 q Midwest Region Waybill Subscription $6.00 (NOTE: Life Membership No Longer Available) Name: Street Address: City: State: ZIP: *as of 12/25/06 Best news of all - - membership is only $30 per year! Contact Clarence Welte at 4320 Forest View Ave., Rockford IL 61108, or WELCOME BACK CHARLIE For those of you that were not aware of the situation, our video librarian, Charlie Wickhorst, took a bad spill the weekend just before the convention tour was to come visit our area. Charlie fell and broke his hip in several places. He was hospitalized for a few weeks and went through extensive rehab excercises. He is back home, but I m not at this time able to know if he will be at our next meet. But if I know Charlie, He won t miss it if he can help it. Good luck on your recovery Charlie. Editor FLIMZIE Page 2 fall 2010

3 All aboard for train fest 2010 On Saturday, November 13th, RRVD is again chartering a bus to Trainfest in Milwaukee. Trainfest is the biggest train show in the Midwest, if not the country. If you ve never been to Trainfest and are interested in model trains, you need to go. If you went to previous Trainfests but didn t go in the last few years, you need to go again. Come with us on the RRVD bus. There will be fun, prizes, and friendship. So join us for a fascinating day of model railroad fun. And, it sure is relaxing to ride back home after a long day of walking through Trainfest, sharing your new treasures, watching new videos, or just napping. Cost for bus trip and TRAINFEST admission will be $25 for those 15 or older and $15 for those under 15. With fuel prices, parking, and the admission charges, $25 is a really great price! Our bus will leave the Clock Tower s lot promptly at 7:30 AM so plan to be at the bus by 7:15 AM. If there is any interest, we will again make a brief stop at around 8:00 AM in the Beloit Menard s south parking lot, along Milwaukee Road (return about 4:00 PM) Plan to be there by 7:45 AM because the bus will depart Beloit immediately. We should arrive at Trainfest about 9:00 AM, just as Trainfest opens. We will depart Trainfest at 3:00 Ray Dyreson, Trip Chairperson PM, in order to arrive back in Beloit about 4:00 PM and at the Clock Tower in Rockford at about 4:30 PM. For those early risers who want to gather for breakfast beforehand, you may join us at 6:00 AM at Denny s Restaurant on East State Street (west of the Clock Tower, just west of The Machine Shed, and east of The Texas Roadhouse. We should be done in time to meet the bus at 7:15 AM. Of course you will have to endure the now infamous Trainfest Trivia Test during our ride to Milwaukee, but this is a trip you should not miss. Only 56 seats are available. Once folks figure out what it would cost to do the trip alone (what with the price of gas, admission, the parking fee, and the drudgery of driving) and I m sure the seats will sell out fast! Please fill in the registration form and send it soon. Don t forget, seating is limited to the first 56 people to register. Note that the moneys collected will include both the round trip bus fare and your admission ticket to Trainfest. If you have any questions about the trip, contact Ray Dyreson at: or RayDyr@aol.com TRAINFEST 2010 BUS TRIP REGISTRATION FORM Name: Address: City: State: ZIP: Phone No.:( ) Check here for Beloit Depart/Return Mail to: No. of Tickets X $25.00* ea. = $ Ray Dyreson No. of Tickets X $15.00* ea (14 & under) = $ P.O. Box 307 Total Amount Enclosed $ Winnebago, IL Make checks payable to: RRVD Mon-Fri 3-8 PM Sat 9-4 PM HO TRAINS N Roundhouse Home of the ROCKSHOP A model railroad shop run by a model railroader PHONE 815/ MARION G. BRASHER The Valley s only Train Shop Check our selections - You ll like our prices! 122 W. ST. PAUL SPRING VALLEY, IL FLIMZIE Page 3 fall 2010

4 A member of the Rock River Valley Division Board of Directors has passed away early this summer. Dave Holman, NMRA member since January 2000 and principal organizer and Chairman of our Videotape program had been in failing health for some time. His dedication to helping our members enjoy many hours of viewing railroad related subjects on VCR s enhanced this service to our members. Dave made the tapes available month after month by bringing them to Midway Village and keeping track on a library-type checkout system which he set up. Since his illness prevented him form carrying on, Charley Wickhorst has been overseeing the disposition of the program and the Division is currently looking for a volunteer to continue this worthwhile endeavor. Thanks you Dave for a job well done! Clarence H. Welte Membership Chairman Liking what they see at Jim Bakers Lay Out A word from the Editor I assumed the roll of the editor, from Tom Maladecki, who was in the midst of retiring from the FLIMZIE. Tom was and still is a very highly motivated hobbyist and educator. He has vast knowledge and experiences in the modelers world as well as railroad lingo. Me on the other hand am not gifted as well as I would like to be, so I rely on the inputs of others to continue to bring interesting and informative tidbits. I set down dates to remember for articles and data for our quarterly circular. These dead lines were set so that I could have sufficient time to put our up-coming FLIMZIE on time for the ends of August, November, February and May. A conventioneer concentrating on operations There are still a lot of modelers and hobbyist out there that really have a lot of experiences that might be able to assists someone else resolve a problem or eliminate difficulties they have or may have in the future. I would appreciate any and all articles of modeling that you may be able to share. I will do my utmost to get them into the future FLIMZIES. FLIMZIE Page 4 fall 2010

5 RRVD Clinic & Contest Schedule Jim McQueeny Contests Continuing my responsibilities as your Division Contest Chairman here is the schedule for the modeling contests for the season. I thought that by this time there would be a line of volunteers to take over my job. There will not be regular meets with model contests in September, November, December or April because we have scheduled other events at that time. Talk with Gary Loiselle, our Division Achievement Program Chairman about having your model Merit Judged toward the NMRA Certificates. October 2010 On Line Structures On line structures are served by a railroad siding to it. A creamery, brewery, stock pen, packing house and LTL distribution warehouse are just a few examples of on line structures. January 2011 Locomotive Service Enter a model of a structure that is used to service a locomotive. Steam or diesel, any size or shape. It can be as simple as a small shovel fed coaling stop to a huge diesel shop with overhead crane interior detail. February 2011 Off Line Structures Off line structures are not served by a railroad siding to the building. A small bakery, furniture store, and a large truck LTL distribution warehouse are just a few examples of off line structures. March 2011 Passenger Railroad Stations, Depots Again, any size or scale, as large as the Union Station in Chicago to as small as a rural, seldom used, whistle stop on a branch line. May 2011 Open Loads Kit build, Kitbash or Scratch build a model of a railroad car that is carrying an open load., any size, any scale, any gauge. The car can be built of any material, wood, plastic, card stock or whatever you prefer. Photo Contests This year, this month, we will also have photo contests. There will be separate judging for prototype railroad and model railroad photos. Clinics The clinics for 2010 are finalized and after I get a final commitment from clinicians on there availability I will have the 2011 schedule for the next Flimzie. This year, as usual, we will have our Show and Tell for the September meet. For those that did not attend the NMRA 75 th. annual convention, that will be the subject. The October meet will have a presentation on The history of the Railroad at Featherstone Clinic and All scale modeling tips. I have just received confirmation from Rich Mahaney that he will be here to present new clinics in January. Rich has been working in Saudi Arabia and should have very interesting topics. On the docket Something to look forward to this coming season at the monthly MEETS, is the mini-clinics designed to fill in our program, The first of these clinic is prepared by Clarence Welte, and will feature an O GAUGE railroad set under glass that ran under your very feet! Another he is working on will take you to the ILLINOIS RAILROAD MUSEUM located in Union Illinois, where you will see scenes taken during the filming action of the movies, THE BABE, LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN and GROUND HOG DAY, along with commercials such as SHARP and SPIEGEL, along with a few episodes of the Television series, THE UNTOUCHABLES. Future mini-clinics will be forthcoming on scenes from the years of the Museum expansion during the 80 s and 90 s when Clarence worked in the Track and Signal Dept. The interesting behind the scenes of what it takes to build and maintain the plant reveals much of the day to day labor and sweat that goes into such an undertaking. Monday 12-4 Tues - Sat 10-6 Scott Matejka Owner (815) Fax (815) Midwest Rail Junction Your Source for Quality Model Railroad Products Broadcast Pkwy. Loves Park, IL FLIMZIE Page 5 Summer 2010

6 AN ADVENTURE AT THE NATIONAL CONVENTION OK, I admit I am a newbie to national conventions. But I want to tell you about my week long adventure in extreme model railroading. From July 11th to 17th, I attended the 75th Anniversary Convention of the National Model Railroad Convention in Milwaukee. IT WAS GREAT! I stayed at the Wisconsin State Fair RV Park so I could save some money from the high hotel rates. I met others who did the same. I went to many clinics almost every day. I learned how to airbrush better, use the Noch Gras Master* to apply standing grass, use different weathering techniques and many more. I especially liked a clinic and learned I had a mental disorder! The name of the clinic was: Is Model Railroading a Mental Disorder presented by a practicing psychiatrist. It was great and, don t get mad, you have the disorder, too! I saw over eight layouts in the Milwaukee and northern Illinois area. One layout modeled the Pacific Northwest similar to my own layout, the SP & S. I saw a layout with a scale sized operating steam engine powered by burning coal. The owner had nearly two miles of track on his property, a turn table, sidings and about five cars including a caboose. I went on a few tours to see local businesses including Kalmbach Publishing Co. which also publishes Model Railroader and about 15 other magazines. We saw the way they create photographic displays for pictures in the magazine and some displays looked very familiar because I saw them in recent issues. By far, the best tour was to Badger Airbrush in Franklin Park, Illinois. Badger creates parts and produces all of their airbrushes in America. Each of the people on the tour received a free air brush and miscellaneous items in a small box. One person would receive another airbrush in the box. Later, when I opened my box I discovered the THE AIRBRUSH IN MY BOX! Now I have three! I saw a fantastic room presentation concerning the history of model railroading from the early 1930s to the present. The display of the 1950s brought back memories of some early railroad car kits I built when I was a kid (and later when I attended the clinic on model railroader disorders!) I attended a layout operating session and was even invited back. I guess I was doing something right! The time just flew by because I was having so much fun, but I did finish my job as a switch engine operator. I participated in the silent auction and spent waaaaaay too much money. But hey, it s only money. And, I finally sold me old Bowser for waaaaay too much less money than I paid for it. But again, it s only money! I went to the banquet and heard a great speaker and witnessed the honoring of early pioneers in model railroading. But the very best part of the entire seven days was the opportunity to meet and talk with wonderful model railroaders from all over the world. I met about ten men from Canada at the brat & beer feast on Sunday night, two men from New Zealand at Culvers in a near by food mall and many others on tours, in clinics and just sitting around waiting for the next activity. I even met a few women who were model railroaders. Rare, but true! The next convention of the NMRA is in Sacramento, California. I don t plan to attend because of the distance. However, the 2012 convention will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan which I am planning to attend maybe with my wife. Hey, why don t you think about going, too? It is really a lot of fun. Ron Johnson Audio Visual Chairman In Store Only. 10% Monday 12-4 Tues - Sat 10-6 Scott Matejka Owner Additional 10% discount with this coupon. (815) Fax (815) Midwest Rail Junction Your Source for Quality Model Railroad Products Broadcast Pkwy. Loves Park, IL Additional 10% discount with this coupon. 10% In Store Only. FLIMZIE Page 6 fall 2010

7 Our HobbyTown USA has been open since July 1992 and serves the entire Northern Illinois region. We are a full-line hobbyshop with 10,000 square feet of retail space. Our specialties include: Model Railroading Radio Controlled Cars and Planes Skateboards Tools & Paints Plastic Models Metal Detectors Airsoft Guns Wooden Toys Model Rockets Slot Car Sets Boy Scout Uniforms and Supplies We are constantly changing our inventory. Special ordering is available and unlike ordering on the internet, there are no shipping costs. JOHN A. CURTIS ~ Owner 3782 North Alpine Road Rockford, IL Phone (815) Fax (815) See our Franchise Stores Nationwide! Mon. Fri. 10:00 a.m. 9:00 p.m. Sat. 10:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. Sun. 11:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m. any purchase of $25 or more with this coupon Restrictions may apply. See a store associate for details. $ 5 off A NATIONAL FRANCHISE FLIMZIE Page 7 fall 2010

8 CABOOSE Doug Loy Summer is almost over and time to get back to serious model railroading.! I have taken up a new facet in model railroading thanks to our Chief Clerk- Les Zimmerman. At last years Trainfest, Les and I attended the show together. While walking around, Les kept an eye for beer box cars. He likes to collect special beer cars. I purchased a couple of the brands of beer I occcationally part take in. When I got home I thought, I ll try to fill out a collection of the brands I sampled while in college. I attended school in Milwaukee and my first year dorm room looked at the Pabst brewery. So now I m trying to get a car of all the different brews I have sampled in life! At the time the age for beer was 18 in Wisconsin so I was legal! 17th ANNUAL model train SHOW november 6TH AND 7TH MIDWAY VILLAGE MUSEUM Mulford Road Guilford Road Midway Village & Museum Center Perryville Road Bell School Road Northwest Tollway Interstate 90 & 39 RRVD Meets - Location & Time Unless otherwise stated. RRVD Meets are held in the Lakeview Room at the Midway Village Museum Center. Midway Village is located at 6799 Guilford Road in Rockford, just west of Perryville Road. The doors open about 12:30 pm and the Meet gets started about 1:00pm Flimzie input Deadlines State Street / Business US 20 Fall issue Aug 10th Winter issue Nov 10th Spring issue Feb 10th Summer issue May 10th F L I M Z I E Ron Anderson 978 McKnight Cir. #2 Rockford, IL POSTMASTER: Forwarding Address Requested